Being A Tourist - Day 4

It is generally agreed in backpacker circles that 3am is a time you stay up until and not a time you get up at. However, when you're a tourist all the rules change, especially when you're going hot air ballooning at dawn in Mareeba which would be a nice leisurely drive if it wasn't on the other side of a hideous, winding road that's enough to make you sea sick. Plus we'd be doing the drive in the dark and there are all kinds of things that like to jump out in front nice, shiny cars at night on Australian roads. So yeah, I stayed over in Mum and Dad's nice air conditioned room in my swag and we dragged ourselves out of our pits at 3 o' clock in the morning and yes, there really is a 3 o' clock in the morning, its not a myth. I crawled into the back of my parents rental car with my pillow and was woken up when we got there. Not only was I now a tourist I'd regressed to the age of 5 again. Maybe later they'd get me a colouring book and some sweeties.

Ohhhh So THAT'S What Dawn Looks Like

There are a few companies that run dawn balloon tours and they all generally launch from the same spot in the morning once they've worked out where the best spot that day would be based on wind speed and direction. Its all very technical. What Raging Thunder, the company we flew with do is stick a birthday candle in a piece of card and light it, put it in a white supermarket bag, attach two helium balloons to it and watch where it goes. I tried to ignore the eco warrior within ranting about littering the Queensland countryside with plastic.

This is one of those Words Don't Do It Justice Moments, apart from the roaring flame that keeps you in the air firing up every so often its so quiet, you get to watch the sun come up from a basket floating above the earth. I thought I'd be scared but I wasn't, I guess if I'm not expected to jump off or out of something then heights are ok with me. After we'd landed the second group jumped in and we followed the balloon in a coach to the second landing spot where we all helped pack it away. Its weird how its easier to get the air out of a massive balloon than it is out of an air mattress, you know how you can never quite fit it back in its box because there's always some pocket of air you missed? Well the balloon was packed away, stuffed into a bag and loaded onto a trailer in no time then it was off for a cooked brekky where I pulled my usual backpacker trick of Eating Until Movement Becomes Painful. Fortunately I only had to spend the rest of the day sat in the back of a car being driven through the Atherton Tablelands from waterfall to waterfall.

Flying High

My love of waterfalls is well documented, since I left Perth and discovered Karijini National Park, The Kimberley and Litchfield I renounced beaches and oceans in favour of fresh water swimming holes and waterfalls. I love them and the Tablelands have an abundance of them. When me and the Chinese girls were camping at Georgetown I'd got chatting to a proud local who'd given me a map and marked the Must See places so we dutifully went to see them.

Elinjaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Milla Milla

Some Random Shitty Falls Somewhere

She'd told me if I do nothing else have a swim in Lake Eachem. The water is the perfect temperature, not too cold but cool enough for a hot day, its perfectly still, motorised water sports are banned and its like swimming in velvet.

Velvet. Yeah right. Crazy lady.

But I like to swim so I got my kit off and jumped in and oh my god, its like swimming in velvet. It really is, the water is so soft, its gorgeous, seriously. There's BBQ facilties there an all, it's be the perfect place to go and spend the day and if you're lucky you'll see turtles. We weren't lucky this time.

Lake Eacham. Like Swimming In Velvet. No, Really.

Lets hope we don't get lucky enough to find a FNQ Funnel Web when we're walking in the Daintree either.

written by

Koala Bear on October 8, 2007 from Mareeba, Australia

from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz

tagged LovinIt and ShamelessTourist

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